Citigroup Choir Finds Its Soul on the Trading Floor

Two questions hung over the appearance by London’s Citigroup staff in last night’s edition of “The Choir – Sing While You Work”: can bankers sing and will their appearance on the program in any way alter public perceptions of the financial industry? The answers were “yes” and “maybe”.

As a brief recap, “The Choir” is helmed by choirmaster Gareth Malone, who takes on the challenge of creating choirs from scratch at a variety of companies and organizations and prepares them to compete against each other.

Launching the auditions at Citigroup’s Canary Wharf offices, Mr. Malone said: “I hope … people will see this choir and get a sense of who you are as human beings, not just a corporation.”

First, the group had to decide on a song that would adequately reflect public perception of banks and bankers. They toyed with “We Built This City” by 1980s pop group Starship (incidentally crowned the Worst Song of the 1980s by Rolling Stone magazine).

But Mr. Malone thought it too upbeat. “It’s hard to say to them: ‘You know what? Everyone hates you, everyone’s angry. You need to acknowledge that in your song choice,’” he confided to camera, before putting it more diplomatically to the choir: “Your concern about this seeming too arrogant is something to be careful about.”

Having settled on the more reflective “Man in the Mirror” by Michael Jackson and “One”by U2, fresh challenges emerged. First, the choir had to lose its inhibitions. The bank’s staff initially came across far more stiffly than their competition – including Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service, Sainsbury’s, Birmingham City Council and P&O Ferries – in earlier episodes. “There’s just that lack of guts,” said Mr. Malone. “It’s all just a bit detached.” Discussions about learning the songs by listening to “cassette tapes” and “rocking out” didn’t help.

Second, harmonizing the 11 nationalities in the choir required Mr. Malone to settle on one accent. American would do, he said, because Citi is a U.S. bank. He asked American bond salesman Alex Magliaro to read out the words so the choir could copy. Cue stiff resistance: “It’s just so anti-elocution,” said James Bardrick, Citigroup’s very British co-head of investment banking in Europe.

However, when bond salesman Mr. Magliaro was reduced to tears while talking about “One”, Mr. Malone knew he’d found his soloist. “It’s great that he’s from the trading floor, he really gets the passion…he’s vulnerable and I don’t think people expect that about bankers.”

Certainly the choir’s performance in the bank’s atrium – which was live-streamed to offices in New York, Warsaw and Johannesberg – won over the three initially skeptical judges. “When I arrived, my view of this place was as a soulless, heartless place,” said Mr. Malone. “And actually I don’t think that’s the case. I’m surprised how much soul this group had.”

Perhaps the perceptions of a few viewers will have been similarly altered – if only just a little bit.